MBA1150 Q&A Wednesday: I can only go to two conferences next year. How do I choose?

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If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over at omar100,mba.net Today's question is from Dave and Dave asks, I can only go to two conferences next year. How do I choose? Solid question, Dave. I'm going to give you my advice on how to choose which conferences to go to. We all have different businesses in different markets and different niches and there are plenty of conferences to go to. And boy, in the last five years I've gone to so many conferences, some good, some bad, some horrible. So I'm gonna tell you, in my opinion, what's the best way to choose the conference that's gonna be the best investment for you, regardless of the topic, regardless of the speakers, regardless of where it is. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Dave asks on today's Q and A Wednesday, I can only go to two conferences next year. How do I choose? Let me give you the short answer and then I'm going to explain and elaborate and give you the long answer. The short answer is you want to choose the conferences that make you better, that force you to make you better. That when you look around the room you say to yourself, man, everybody is doing so Good. They're at a higher level than me. I aspire to be like them. That's how we grow. We learn from people that are doing better. And here's the deal about conferences. The best conferences are the one that curate the right environment, the right people. I'm talking about mostly the attendees because, hey, you're going to get some dudspeakers. People that don't know how to speak on stage, that are boring, they're covering topics you already know about. You conferences that try too hard and do a bunch of woo woo, wacky things and that's good and all. But really what you want to do is make sure that when you go home, you're inspired and you know what it looks like to be where you want to be. That's really very powerful. You need to see real world examples of people that are living the life and are doing business the way you want to, are at the level of business that you want to be at. Those are the conferences I feel I get the most out of. Let me give you an example. I went to a conference called Running Remote back in June. I. It was the first time they ran this conference, so it had no track history. All I knew were who was going to attend, who's speaking and what the conference this was about. When I say I know who's going to attend, well, I know what type of attendees will be there based on the conference and how they're pitching the conference, how they're marketing it. Now I spoke at this conference, but I would have attended it if I wasn't a speaker. Why? Because I run a remote company. I run a team that's spread across the world and I want to meet people that do the same thing. In fact, I want to meet people that are doing the same thing but are a little ahead of me a few years down the line so I can really learn how to get better. So I knew, like the founders of Buffer and Todoist and GitLab, all these people are going to be there. Companies that have larger teams than I have, that are running their company remote. And I knew that I was going to learn something from them because hey, they've been around the block. And I knew that I was not going to really learn a whole lot from their speeches. Yes, I'll pick up a few nuggets, but really what I want to learn is when I get to know them, when I have chats with them, when they share stories with me on a one on one basis. I knew there were people at this conference that I can get access to, that I can talk to, that I can get to know, that are where I want to be very soon. Not only at the conference, but I know that if I get to know them, we can build a relationship and then we can carry on that relationship past the conference. So for me, that's a slam dunk. I'm going to go to a conference like that. Even though the conference has no track history, I know the people that are going to attend are people I really can learn from, people that are where I want to be. Another conference that has a lot of buzz is called Mastermind Talks. Now, this is a general conference for entrepreneurs from all walks of life, but it's highly curated. Jason Gaignard, who organizes Mastermind Talks, does a fantastic job bringing in the right people. So you're gonna be sitting next to somebody that you really will connect with and learn from at the dinner table. It's like relationship building on steroids. So conferences like that should be an easy yes for you. So I would go to conferences, I would choose the conferences to go to that will force me to be better, that will inspire me to be better, that will show me examples of who I wanna become in the future. So very hard to have a vision when you don't know what's possible, when you don't see it in front of you. And that's what a great conference will do for you. Now, I would choose the top two conferences with that criteria, regardless of cost, of course, if you can afford it, and regardless of where it is, if you got to go overseas to go to this conference, it's worth the investment over going to a local conference that doesn't fulfill you in that way and tends to be a waste of two or three days, maybe even more if you have to do a bit of travel. Now, with the exception of speaking, if I'm gonna attend a conference as an attendee, I steer clear from conferences that don't make it easy for me to build relationships with other people to get to know them. If it's just thousands of people, an expo, it's really hard. It's really hard to get to know people and have the setting where you can really build relationships. So I would make a short list of all the conferences you're interested in, write down what kind of people will be at that conference, who in particular will be at that conference, whether it's a speaker or an attendee that you know, and rank the conferences based on which one will provide me with the inspiration via the right people. The people I want to get to know, the people that I want to be like in the near future.

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Up today's Q and A, Wednesday's question from Dave I can only go to two conferences next year. How do I choose? Choose the conferences that will provide the people that will curate the environment for you to get better. Think of it this way. If you had to find your next mentor, which conference will allow you to find that mentor? Somebody that's a bit ahead of you. When I say bit, I'm talking about three to five years ahead of you. Somebody that you can talk to, that you can relate to, that you can build a relationship with, that. That's how you choose in my book. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you have a question you want to ask on Q and A Wednesday, let me know. Just email me at omar00mba.net and we'll get your question answered right here on the show. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Some people see conferences as like this work function, but try to see it as where can I go to build new friendships, to build new relationships? People that can take me to the level I want to go. People that inspire me, people that push me, people that I just want to hang out with. Because in fact, that's what you're going to do. You're going to hang out with them for a few days at the conference, having dinners, having drinks. It's a great way to start new relationships. It doesn't have to be this buttoned up, you know, learn as much as you can type of situation. I see conferences as a growing experience. How can I grow and find people that will help me grow? Thank you so much for listening. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. See you then. Take care.

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